Author's Note: At long last, here is another chapter! Thank you all for being so patient with me! Wasn't TF2 simply AMAZING?!! XD
Don't worry…there will be more of Sides to come. Right now, I'm kind of focusing on Sunny since he was the one who was abused the most by Starscream. And also because I know that in some TF universes, Sunstreaker is depicted as the twin who is more like a Decepticon than an Autobot, so I wanted to explore the possibilities of how he grew to be the mech that he did.
Thanks to: LyricaBelachium, Buddahbread, FunkyFish1991, Sotwt, Elita One, X-RayDog, shimmershadow30, and FLarey Phoenix for reviewing!!
Chapter 9
Glowing red optics peered at him from the pitch darkness.
"I see you, youngling…you can't hide from me!"
Sunny screamed shrilly as he ran through the inky blackness. It was vast, stretching on forever in an endless ocean of ebony creating a frighteningly claustrophobic and suffocating feeling.
A cruel laugh echoed behind him and he whimpered and pleaded with the unknown terror following directly on his heels.
"Please, LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"You will never escape me…I'm coming for you…"
Sunny shrieked in stark terror when he felt a menacing, sharply clawed hand grab his shoulder from behind.
The little yellow youngling jerked awake from recharge, releasing audio shattering screams that nearly shorted out his vocal processor.
"HELP ME!!!"
Almost immediately, one of the elder mechs appeared beside him although he was shaking so hard from terror that his processor didn't comprehend much of anything since the crystal clarity of the dream was still fresh in his mind. This was Sunny's first nightmare.
"Youngling, what's wrong?"
He curled up into a ball and sobbed, unable to reply.
He was scooped up into a set of strong arms and felt the elder rocking him gently in a soothing motion.
"You are safe, little one."
At long last, his optics actually began to register who he was looking at, finally recognizing the chief medical officer, Ratchet.
He shook like a leaf caught in a violent thunderstorm. Sunny choked out the words between sobs, turning tear filled, baby blue optics up to peer into the concerned face of his current caretaker.
"H-he…he…got me!!"
The youngling's cries rose in fervor, not yet understanding that the nightmare was in fact a vivid subconscious recollection of his ordeal with Starscream.
He felt his tiny body curling further in on it-self as he snuggled deeper against his elder's chassis, seeking comfort and safety.
Ratchet was currently at a loss, unsure of how to comfort the frightened youngling. It had been a few vorns since he had last come into contact with ones so young. Since the fall of Cybertron at the hands of the Decepticons, it was indeed a privilege to be caring for one now.
When he had first heard Sunny's terrified shrieking, the CMO's first instinct thanks to medical programming coupled with years of habit and experience tending to wounded Autobot soldiers, nearly forced him to immediately sedate the screaming being to put him out of his misery. Then, his rational side had kicked in when he reminded himself just who he was dealing with here. These little ones were still innocent and required nurturing.
He was a medic and a good one at that.
So why was it so hard to fix this?
The youngling was clearly suffering mentally. The nightmare was most likely a side-effect from post traumatic stress after sustaining severe emotional, mental, and physical abuse at the hands of the Decepticon second in command.
The pit slagging fragger can go to the pit and—
Ratchet's mental ravings were silenced when he felt the small, quivering body, curling defensively against him. He softened as he gazed down at the youngling and shifted his hold on him, bringing the frightened being closer to his spark.
"There, there now…it's all right."
A muffled response reached his sensitive audios although the content was lost on him.
"What was that?"
The youngling pulled his face away from his chest plating and his already squeaky youngling voice rose in pitch.
"He said he was coming for me…"
Now Ratchet was intensely curious.
"Who…who said they were coming for you?"
"The scary one…"
Another shiver wracked his small frame and he buried his face into the CMO's chest again, as if to hide from the scary one he had just dared to speak of.
Just then, the med bay doors slid open and Optimus entered. He looked directly at them and walked over cautiously, not wanting to startle the already terrified youngling.
"I heard Sunny screaming. Is something wrong?"
"He had a nightmare."
Optimus nodded silently in understanding and stood there, looking a little uncertain.
Sunny perked up immediately when he heard his favorite elder's voice in the near vicinity. Joyful optics locked on to him and he squeaked with delight and lifted his arms up in his direction, a silent invitation for the larger mech to pick him up.
"Optimus!!"
Ratchet chuckled and stood up with the youngling and handed him over without complaint.
"You are quite popular these days, Prime…"
The nanosecond that Optimus had Sunny in his careful grasp, the youngling latched on fiercely and refused to let go, snuggling against his guardian already feeling a little more at ease.
"I'll leave you two alone…"
Ratchet turned to leave but directed a silent look at Optimus that clearly said "we need to talk as soon as you are finished".
Optimus nodded his head, acknowledging the wordless message.
The CMO wandered off, most likely to monitor the still recovering Sides who was still in a deep recharge. It was amazing that he hadn't felt, let alone heard his twin brother's terrified screams. Then again…in hindsight, Ratchet remembered administering a powerful sedative to ease the young one's discomfort.
Ah. That explained it then.
He busied himself by cleaning and organizing his workstation.
Sunny stared at the prone form of his twin brother from across the room, feeling a strong longing to be with him.
"Shouldn't you be recharging?"
Sunny turned wide optics up to the slightly amused face of Optimus. He shrank down and shook his head 'no'.
"And why is that?"
The deep, rumbling voice was filled with tenderness.
"Can't…too scared."
Optimus sat down on the unoccupied recharge berth and cocked his head inquisitively.
"What has frightened you so?"
Sunny's lower lip quivered as tears threatened to leak from fearful optics.
The youngling recounted his nightmare, hiccupping and squeaking throughout the retelling as a fresh wave of fear coursed through his systems, squeezing his small spark in an icy grip.
"I see…"
Optimus replied thoughtfully at last.
As the charismatic leader listened avidly to the little one, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of protectiveness towards Sunny and intense anger towards Starscream. Next time…his weapons specialist was not going to be the only one to dish out the damage to the cowardly fragger.
It took a lot most times, to make the usually calm and self-controlled Autobot leader lose his temper. What Starscream did to the little ones, was a crime that would have been punishable by deactivation if they still lived in the Golden Age of Cybertron. What the Decepticons were doing to wipe out entire generations of their species, brought to Optimus a righteous and unbridled fury that no intelligent being with half a processor would dare to cross. Not even Ironhide, the seemingly fearless trigger happy lugnut that he was, dared to go anywhere near Prime on the battlefield when he was lost within such a justifiable rage.
And that was saying a lot…
Before his thoughts could become too violent or aggressive, the little one squirmed. Optimus was pulled from his silent musings and back down to the distressed youngling as his anxiety levels became clearly tangible. Sunny shifted in his arms, getting into a more comfortable position against his chest. His tiny head rested directly over his spark chamber.
Sunny didn't really care if he was currently being held like a sparkling…it was rather nice.
His right audio was buzzing with the tell-tale thrumming sound of the powerful Autobot leader's spark-beat. Slowly, his panic and mind numbing fears gradually melted away.
When he felt Optimus move slightly his fear returned. He clicked and chirped in panic believing that the elder was about to leave him.
"Don't leave me!!"
"I'm not going anywhere."
He calmed down, releasing a heavy sigh from his vents in clear relief.
Optimus was now lying down on the recharge berth with the youngling still curled against his chest, reminding the elder of a little cyber-kitten.
Sunny yawned sleepily as the continuous thrumming of Optimus's spark continued to soothe him. Tiny digits curled around large fingers as if to reassure him-self that Optimus was in fact still there and not leaving him. He had another two joors of recharge time to go until his vital systems regained optimum efficiency levels…but the frightening prospect of going back to such a dark and frightening place kept him fighting off the tempting allure of sleep. The youngling glanced up to see that Optimus had his optics shuttered closed. He was resting.
"Optimus…I don't want to recharge…"
Bright blue optics re-opened and focused on him.
"I'll protect you."
Sunny looked doubtful and glanced down.
"You promise?"
"I promise. Now recharge, little one."
Satisfied with the answer, he settled back down and rested his head against the familiar spark-beat. As he drifted back off to sleep, clicking tiredly, his tiny digits remained wrapped firmly around the thick fingers of his guardian. A large hand came to rest comfortingly across his back in a reassuring blanket. The extra warmth on his back plating gave his tired systems a gentle push into the dark recesses of recharge.
Soon, his tired optics drooped shut and Sunny remembered no more.
TFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTF
3 joors Later…
Everything was dark and something felt highly uncomfortable.
As he felt his processor rebooting, the uncomfortable feeling soon turned into pain.
It was very hard to ignore and a whimper escaped his lips that sounded foreign to his own audio receptors.
Baby blue optics brightened as they re-opened to the waking world.
A yellow blur hovered somewhere above him. As his optics refocused, the fuzzy image cleared until he saw a near identical face peering intently at him with a happy smile.
"Sides, you're awake! I was soooo worried…I thought you were gonna die, but Ratchet and Optimus said you were just recharging and—," Sunny spoke far too fast for him to understand but stopped when he saw the confused expression that his brother was sending him.
"What?"
Sunny rolled his optics as Ratchet appeared beside the recharge berth, running scans on the red youngling while the excited twin repeated himself a little more slowly so that his brother could actually understand him.
Sides' mouth formed a silent 'oh' when the words actually registered the second time around.
He whimpered when the medic touched one of his still healing injuries and tried to squirm out of reach.
Ratchet frowned and retracted his prodding hand.
"You have suffered some internal injury that your systems are still repairing. You need to recharge a little longer, youngling."
"Aww…does he have to?" Sunny's squeaky voice whined while hovering protectively over his twin with a pout.
Ratchet's frown deepened until he was almost glaring.
"Yes. Unless you want your brother to remain in constant pain"
Sunny's optics widened and he turned to look at Sides.
"Is it bad?"
Sides weakly nodded his head with a grimace and whimpered again when that small action made one of the pain receptors in his neck flare up.
"Hurts a lot"
Sunny tenderly reached for his brother's hand and held it in his own, lending his twin some of his strength.
"I want you to get better."
"And he won't get better unless he recharges…" Ratchet's voice was stern but his expression was softer.
Sunny made a sour face and nodded his head in understanding, although it was easy to tell that this did not make the little one happy.
Ratchet made sure that the red youngling was comfortable and kept a careful optic on him as Sides initiated subroutines to shut back down into a natural recharge cycle. Once he was peacefully resting again, the CMO ushered a grumbling Sunny out the door.
"You are in need of refueling…Jazz will be coming by to pick you up in about a breem or two. Stay here until he arrives," Ratchet emphasized severely while pointing at the floor with an index finger.
Sunny crossed his arms and pouted.
"I want Optimus."
"Optimus is busy right now. You will do as you are told, or face severe consequences."
Ratchet left the yellow youngling standing in the hallway right outside of his med-bay with a severe look that promised future punishment if Sunny so much as thought about disobeying his order.
Sunny turned his head away sharply with a huff and focused on the wall across from where he was standing, feeling bent out of shape at being told what to do.
"Behave youngling."
He gave Ratchet the silent treatment, his already grumpy mood turning that much darker as the CMO's final words inspired a sense of rebellion within his young spark. Although, he did feel a little lonely once the med bay doors swooshed shut, leaving him abandoned in the deserted corridor.
He sat down against the wall near the doors and drew different designs in the pristine floor with one finger. His elbow rested on one leg while his other hand propped his head up in a clear sign of boredom.
Sunny checked his internal chronometer and frowned when he saw that the Autobot that was supposed to be coming to pick him up, was running two breems late. The youngling growled in frustration and stood up, his patience finally lost.
There was no way he was just going to sit here, waiting forever for a mech who probably didn't know that he even existed!
"Not staying here!" his youngling voice squeaked rather loudly, betraying his insubordinate intentions by echoing in the long expanse of empty space surrounding him.
He shrank down and winced as he whirled around to stare at the door with wide, frightened optics, half expecting to see Ratchet come storming out in angry retaliation at his bold declaration. He stood frozen for the longest time, straining his audios in an effort to catch any tell-tale signs that the CMO was coming. He leaned against the metallic surface, a little surprised when he heard no sign that the medic was even still alive behind the thick doors. He released a big sigh through his vents when silence continued to answer him.
He glanced in both directions and finally opted to go to the left and pumped his little legs as fast as they could go. Sunny paused when he reached an intersection at that end of the hall and frowned, uncertain of which direction to take this time. He prepared to turn right, but hesitated when instinctually, he had a feeling that told him to continue to the left again.
The youngling took about three steps in that direction and froze when the heavy, echoing footfalls of one of the mechs reached his audios. If they caught him, they would surely take him back to Ratchet…and the medic's promise of punishment for leaving his designated spot in the hall surfaced to the forefront of his processor.
He panicked and looked for a place to hide, only to see that the only way he could conceal himself, was if he melted into one of the walls lining the corridor. Sunny frowned when he looked down to see that his bright yellow plating was hardly camouflage material…so the wall blending idea wasn't going to work.
There was always the option of running back the way he came, to wait impatiently in isolated boredom outside of Ratchet's repair ward, utterly abandoned and forgotten. That wasn't a very appealing option either.
A thrill raced through his systems when the footfalls became far more audible. Whoever was coming would be within optic range at any given second.
The youngling finally made his choice and ran in the opposite direction that the mech was coming from, down the hallway to his right against his better judgment.
Soon, the footsteps faded from audible hearing range and he sighed with relief as he sagged down against a wall.
BOOM!!
"AHHH!"
Sunny shot to his feet when he heard an explosion from further down the corridor. Of course, he knew it was probably unwise to find the source of such a disturbance, but the youngling's curiosity was far too great to be denied.
It was as if his feet had a mind of their own as they began to carry him closer to the startled shouts and curses that erupted from a nearby door. A green light on the panel next to it indicated that the door was unlocked. Sunny approached cautiously and stood about a foot away from it, a little frightened to proceed.
Once again, curiosity ate away at his processor until his rebellious feet moved him forward, activating the automatic door trigger. It slid open, revealing a horrendous mess in what looked like a lab of some sort. Broken containers, liquids of different colors and viscosities littered the floor and dark, roiling smoke was pouring from a damaged device of some kind. A mech he was not too familiar with was stepping gingerly over the damage, trying to salvage what pieces he could while mumbling and sometimes shouting profanities to the seemingly empty room, not yet noticing that he had a very young visitor observing him.
"Slagging piece of garbage…I knew I should have crossed the red wire with the green…"
Sunny cocked his head curiously as he continued to observe the mech's rather strange behavior as he continued talking to himself.
"And what is this doing in the central heating valve?!"
The mech held a jagged glass fragment between two fingers, examining it above his head as the smoke finally cleared. The piece of broken glass gleamed as it reflected from the light panels located in the ceiling.
"What a pit forsaken…"
Sunny's head tilted to the other side with the unfamiliar use of language, briefly recalling some of the elder younglings at the Alpha Sigma Youth Sector using some of those terms.
He knew that they were bad words since he remembered Starlight and Fireflare telling him and his brother not to use words like that once. But this had to be the first time that he had heard so many strung together in one sentence…
The youngling was entranced by the Autobot's colorful vocabulary and blinked innocently, trying to comprehend what it all meant.
"Glitched fragger almost short circuited the main power grid."
The mech tossed the broken glass fragment aside and reached down to pick up a bundle of frayed wires. The strange mech picked it up within one hand and froze when his optics caught sight of him. The Autobot startled, and immediately looked guilty at having been caught, still crouched down in an awkward pose like a youngling caught with his hands in the goody jar.
"Oops…"
The mech straightened up, still looking sheepish as he scratched the back of his cranial unit in clear embarrassment.
When Optimus found out that he had used such foul language in front of the youngling…he was as good as slagged.
"Why, hello there…"
Sunny watched with distrustful optics as the mech quickly approached with one hand outstretched as if to snatch him up too.
Sunny shrieked shrilly and turned and fled, running as fast as he could down the hallway, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and the crazy one. He finally stopped, his vents heaving to cool his internal systems down as he once again slid tiredly against another wall in a corridor he had yet to explore. The strange one wasn't following him…good.
The youngling continued his adventure, now hopelessly lost until he found a room that had no sliding door. It was dark inside but automatic lighting thrummed on once he entered, most likely by motion detectors. He walked through and stared in awe at the large weapons racks that lined the room and shrank down when he had the instinctual feeling that he was most definitely NOT supposed to be in here. The little one was about to turn and make a hasty run for it when he caught sight of another door in the back.
His internal voice of reason inside of his mind told him to forget about exploring unless he wanted to get into even more trouble then he already knew he was in…but once again, curiosity reared its ugly head. He hesitated, lost in an internal battle between the two opposing forces that were common sense and curiosity. At last, the choice was made for him when he heard approaching footsteps, coming from the hallway heading directly for the room he was currently in.
Sunny made a mad dash for the back door and sighed with relief when it opened into yet another darkened room. The nanosecond the door behind him slid shut, blocking out the light from the weapons room, his night vision activated. As he wandered further in, he saw a bunch of holographic projections of fighting mechs that appeared to be frozen…as if someone had simply paused a recording in order to return and finish it later.
He squeaked when the door opened and a large mech lumbered in, cannons twirling into place eagerly. A low, rumbling chuckle that sounded almost threatening filled the room as the new one stopped a few yards away from his position. Sunny crouched low, unmoving in the corner, far from the holographic projections in the hopes that he would not be seen.
"Resume exercise," a gruff voice growled out.
The projections sprang to life as the voice command was confirmed by an automated computer and the new mech combat rolled, dodging one of the holo-mechs lunges. He brought up his cannons and with a deafening roar, unleashed a volley of plasma fire that went through the holographic threats. With each holographic image he blasted, they fizzled out of view, leaving thirteen out of the original twenty.
Sunny had his hands clamped tightly over his sensitive audios and he screamed shrilly at the aggressive display of violence as he watched the mech kill the holographic projections with extreme pleasure. His screams went unheard as the noise of the holo-battle and the Autobot's blazing cannons filled the room with near deafening chaos.
"DIE DECEPTICON FRAGGER!!"
Bright, hot energon tears ran unheeded down his faceplates as Sunny's optics remained glued to the viciously brutal scene before him.
Until at last, the youngling made a break for the door. He got within a few feet of it, before something massive knocked into him. Sunny was sent sliding across the floor and came to rest in the very middle of the room. He whimpered and curled into a ball as the holographic images continued to shoot imaginary projectiles at both him and the large being a few feet away.
"What in the fraggin' pit was that?!"
A few moments later and the youngling heard the gruff voice bark out an order.
"Terminate simulation!!"
Sunny peered cautiously out just as the lights thrummed back on in the room and his optics locked briefly on that of a very large, gruff looking black mech with impressive looking cannons mounted on each arm. He squeaked and hid within the crook of his arm, shivering violently from fear, wondering if the terrifying behemoth was going to shoot him.
The soft words that were spoken next were filled with deep regret and even worry.
"Sweet Primus…what have I done…"
When Sunny glanced back up, he was staring into a set of troubled looking, azure optics.
He screamed and scurried away into the shaded corner behind him, shaking with fright.
"I'm not going to harm you, little one. Please…come here."
The voice, although rough, sounded incredibly genuine and for a moment he almost fell for it…until he remembered how ruthless this bot was when he displayed his fierceness. What was to keep him from doing the same to him?
When the large mech tried to approach him Sunny sobbed and scrambled to get away, only to remember that he was already backed into a corner. It broke the elder mech's spark, to see such an innocent creature looking at him like that.
The cannon toting mech sighed deeply and activated his comlink system, keeping remorseful optics locked on the quivering form of the little yellow youngling. His voice betrayed his emotion as he softly spoke, the gruffness melting away into that of genuine caring.
"Optimus…we have a problem."
TO BE CONTINUED!!
A/N: I know, a brutal way to end the chapter, I'm sorry! But I seriously didn't want to end the chapter by simply cutting it off in the middle, so I'm already typing up the next one! Thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW!!